Britvic suspends share buyback following takeover offer from Carlsberg

Britvic announced that it would suspend its £75 million (€88.7 million) share buyback in light of Danish brewer Carlsberg’s takeover bid for the British soft drinks maker.

Last week, Britvic rejected a takeover offer from Carlsberg worth £3.11 billion (€3.7 billion).

Carlsberg is reviewing its options and announced on Monday (24 June) that PepsiCo had agreed to waive a clause in its bottling contract with Britvic, a move that could allow the Danish company to increase its offer for the maker of Robinsons fruit syrup.

“This exemption will come into effect when the acquisition of Britvic by Carlsberg, as recommended by the Britvic Board, is completed,” said Carlsberg, which bottles Pepsi drinks in some markets.

The company will consider resuming the share buyback program if circumstances change, it said.

Britvic shares fell 1.5% as of 09:11 GMT on June 25.

A “positive” start

In January this year, the soft drinks maker reported a “positive” start to its financial year: Group sales rose 8.1% year-on-year to £443.5 million (€518.6 million) in the first quarter to December 31, 2023.

The company reported a “strong” Christmas season, with group sales and volumes increasing 12.1% and 6.4% respectively in December.

The company reported a “robust performance” in the UK during the quarter, with sales up 6.9% and both retail and hospitality showing growth.

In Brazil, sales increased by more than a fifth (21%), including the benefits of the acquisition of the energy drink Extra Power last year.

The company appointed Vanshikrishna Suvarna as its new Chief Information and Transformation Officer to lead the company’s IT, data and analytics functions and execute cross-functional transformation programs.

News from Reuters, additional reporting from ESM.